The present invention relates to stairway components used in landscaping. Current methods of creating stairs in outdoor settings include the use of landscape timbers, casting of concrete forms in place, or precasting concrete, or by the use of bricks, paving blocks or concrete slabs arranged to serve as stair components. Each of these methods is very labor intensive and is susceptible to large variations in result. One effort to provide prefabricated concrete stair components is disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 5,479,746. The devices of this patent include an assortment of components which are stacked to create various stairway or platform arrangements. An open-centered elongate block used to receive individual rectangular blocks is offered for sale under the name STAIR STACKER(trademark) by Borgert Products, Inc. and STEP STACKER by Decor Innovative Concrete Systems. This product does not provide any stabilization of the sides of the open block and features a flat face which does not blend with surrounding components of a block retaining wall. Due to the open structure of this prior art stair block, dimensions may vary caused by the lack of predictable spacing between the longer walls during curing of the concrete within the block forms.
A stair component block constructed of zero slump concrete is formed with a hollow center section surrounded by orthogonal upright walls. Two opposing walls are interconnected with a narrow vertical web which is provided with two or three vertical slots extending from its top edge toward generally the center of the web. Additional vertical slots are formed in the web at the intersections of the web and the opposing walls interconnected by the web. Each of these slots extends from the top edge of the web part way to the bottom of the web. The web is so slotted such that the top part of the web may be easily removed by striking the sides of the top of the web after the block has been placed. The broken pieces of the web can be left within the central opening of the block during installation. The block is then partly filled with compacted granular material with a covering layer of sand up to a level below the block""s top edges equal to the thickness of paving blocks or bricks to be placed atop the sand layer. Paving blocks or paving bricks may then be placed within the block above the sand in varying arrangements according to the installer""s choice of design. The paving blocks are set such that the tops thereof are generally flush with the tops of the outer walls of the stair block.
The outside vertical corners of the blocks are beveled and the outside faces of the vertical walls are formed with vertical grooves formed therein spaced such that seams between adjoining blocks will appear to be part of a continuous wall. The inner and outer corners of the tops of the upright walls are radiused to provide a rounded step surface for the stair user and to blend and match with the corners of the usual paving block to be installed within the opening of the block. The blocks may be formed of dyed concrete in any of many colors as desired.
It is an object of the invention to provide a stair component for landscaping applications which is factory produced at low cost and high efficiency.
It is a further object to provide an easily installed stairway block which can be used to retain paving blocks in its top section to provide a decorative staircase in landscaping applications.
It is a further object to provide a stairway block which is easily handled by the installer.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a stair block which is stabilized during installation with a transverse stabilizing web.
It is a further object to provide a stairway block which is aesthetically compatible with retaining walls made from blocks.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a stairway block which is easy to use and which may be successfully installed on a xe2x80x9cdo-it-yourselfxe2x80x9d basis.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a landscaping stair block with rounded upper corners.
It is further an object of the invention to produce a landscaping stair block which is versatile in arrangement while having an easily removable stabilizing web.
These and other objects of the invention will be understood from examination of the accompanying drawings and the detailed description which follows.